In a reminder that Congress and the Justice Department are each conducting their own investigations of the events surrounding the attack on the Capitol last year, a criminal trial connected to the riot will begin on Monday, even as the House select committee holds its second in a series of hearings on its findings.
The trial — in Federal District Court in Washington, just down Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol — involves a Delaware man named Kevin Seefried who was widely seen in photos from the day of the attack carrying a Confederate battle flag inside the building.
Mr. Seefried and his son Hunter were among the first wave of pro-Trump rioters to breach the Capitol, climbing in through a broken window near the Senate wing door that other attackers had just shattered. Both men have been charged with crimes including obstructing the final certification of the presidential election that was taking place during a joint session of Congress on the day of the attack — Jan. 6, 2021.
The trial — the eighth connected to the Capitol attack — will for the first time feature testimony from Officer Eugene Goodman, who was celebrated after the assault for having diverted the rioters away from lawmakers inside the building. Officer Goodman is expected to testify about how some members of the mob that the Seefrieds had joined yelled at him after breaching the building and aggressively asked, “Where are the senators?” and “Where are the votes being counted?”
Prosecutors are also likely to introduce a recording of an interview that Kevin Seefried gave to the F.B.I. after the attack. In the interview, court papers say, he acknowledged threatening Officer Goodman, saying, “You can shoot me, man, but we’re coming in.”
The trial will not be heard by a jury but rather by Judge Trevor N. McFadden. In a previous bench trial, Judge McFadden acquitted a man on charges of illegally entering the Capitol during the riot, crediting his claims that the police had let him into the building.
